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Oration   Befopa    the    Sigaa    Phi,    at 
Hamilton   College,    July   27,    1847 


By 


J.   W.    Brown 


I  WJ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


\ 


SAFEGUARDS  OF  AMERICAN  CIVILISATION. 


ORATION 


BEFORfc 


Til  II  Si  A  PHI 


AT 


HAMILTON  COLLEGE,  JULY  27,  1847. 


BY   THE   REV.   J.  W.  BROWN,  A.  31., 


OP  THE  ALPHA  OF  NEW  YORK. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SOCIETY. 


NEW  YORK : 

STANFORD  &    S  W  0  R  D  S  ,    139   BROADWAY 


1847. 


•   *  >  • 


•   •        • 


6) 
t- 

to 


CO 


TO 


PROF.  GEORGE  VT .    EATON,  D.D., 


OF    MADISON    UNIVERSITY 


THE   INSTRUCTOR  OF  MY  YOUTH, 


jaTHE     NOBLE     AND     STEADY     FRIEND    OF    MY    MANHOOD 


AND,  IN  BOTH  RELATIONS,  HONORED   AND  BELOVED, 


> 

I 


AS  A  BROTHER   IN  THE  SIGMA  PHI, 


THESE    PAGES    ARE    INSCRIBED. 


\storia,  L.  I..  Sept.  1847 


ORATION. 


Gentlemen  \ 

It  was  in  an  unguarded  moment  that  I  under- 
took the  task  which  I  am  this  day  expected  to  discharge. 
Your  mandate  reached  me  at  too  late  a  period  fo?  adequate 
preparation,  in  the  midst  of  pressing  engagements,  which 
could  neither  he  delegated  nor  set  aside.  That  mandate  is 
one,  indeed,  which,  under  all  circumstances,  I  should  be  proud 
to  obey.  But  when  I  look  around  me  and  behold  so  many 
of  those  brethren,  at  whose  feet  I  could  desire  to  sit  as 
a  patient  listener,  and  when  I  feel,  as  I  do  feel,  how  poor  is 
the  offering  which  I  am  about  to  lay  upon  the  altar  of  our 
brotherhood,  when  compared  with  those  which  worthier  and 
abler  hands  have  heaped  upon  it,  I  have  no  wish  but  to  be 
silent.  But  I  see  around  me  those  upon  whose  kind  consi- 
deration I  can  fearlessly  throw  myself  for  whatever  deficien- 
cies may  demand  indulgence.  Gladly  therefore  do  I  surrender 
myself  to  the  warm  feelings,  the  generous  sympathies,  the 
bright  associations  of  this  hour  of  our  reunion,  and  strive  to 
enter  with  a  free  heart  into  the  spirit  of  the  time  and  of  the 
scene. 

It  is  our  festival  day.  We  have  come  together  from  the 
crowded  arena  of  the  world,  to  drink  at  the  pure  fountains 
which  nourished  our  intellectual  youth.  We  have  come  from 
various  sections  of  our  country,  from  various  paths  through 
which  our  steps  have  sped  with  various  fortune  in  the  race 


of  life.  We  meet  to  brighten  anew  the  golden  links  forged 
ring  friendships  of  other  days, — and  memory,  like  a 
.  touches  every  heart  with  the  wand  of  its  beauti- 
ful enchantments,  and  brings  back  the  past.  We  recall  the 
time  when,  nerved  by  hope  as  yet  unchastened  by  experience 
of  the  world,  wi  strove  together  in  the  toils  of  learning,  while 
generous  emulation  kindled  love.  .May  the  spirit  which  ani- 
mated us  then  animate  us  now  ;  for  well  will  it  be  if  we  can 
carry  it  with  us  from  these  peaceful  retreats  into  the  world  : — 
well  would  it  be  if  ever  in  the  girded  race  of  life,  the  bold  as- 
piring mind  could  move  obedient  to  such  impulse,  and  the 
cloudlet  signet  of  youth's  pure  ambition  were  always  visibly 
im]  :  upon  the  sterner  brow  of  manhood. 

Such  influences  our  Fraternity  would  cherish  in  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  its  members.  But  there  are  other  aims  which  it 
before  us,  other  duties  to  which  it  summons  us.  By  the 
noble  emulation  enkindled  by  a  generous  friendship,  it  would 
animate  ui  to  act  well  our  parts  in  society,  knowing  that  there 
are  true  hearts  to  cheer  us  onward  in  our  career,  earnest  sym- 
pathies to  sustain  us  in  our  struggles,  glorious  rewards  to  greet 
our  triumphs,  sweet  consolations  to  soothe  even  the  anguish 
of  defeat.  By  the  pure  stimulus  of  love,  it  would  nerve  us  to 
the  discbarge  of  the  high  duties  which,  as  American  scho- 
lars we  owe  to  our  country,  and  of  the  higher  duties  which 
is  Christian  men,  blessed  with  rare  opportunities  of  useful- 
ness, we  owe  to  the  world  and  to  God.  Let  these  considera- 
tions then  suggest  the  theme  around  which  we  may  gather  the 
meditations  of  tins  hour. 

We  are  a  brotherhood  of  American  scholars,  and  as  such, 
charged,  each  in  bis  sphere,  with  grave  responsibilities.  The 
Bpot  on  which  we  are  assembled  to-day  was,  within  a  century, 
par'  -i    wilderness  of  this   western  world.     It  is  now 

the  heart  of  a  mighty  and  controlling  empire,  and  all  around 
II-,  from  the  Atlantic  coasl  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains— from  the  bank-  nf  the  Sabine  and  the  chain  of  North- 
ern lakes,  to  the  everglades  of  Florida,  and  the  mountain 
plains  of  .Mexico,  stretches  the  glorious  domain  of  a  Republic, 


which  in  much  less  than  a  century  lias  sprung  up  to  its  pre- 
sent nohle  position  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.     With  a 
territory  of  such   extent,  unsurpassed  in  all  those  resources 
from  which  wealth  is  created,  we  are   rapidly  advancing  to- 
wards the  highest  civilisation  attainable  hy  man  :  a  civilisa- 
tion which  consists  in  the  advancement  of  knowledge,   the 
culture  of  the  arts,  refinement  of  manners,  and  the  harmoni- 
ous and  complete  development  of  all  those  means  and  instru- 
ments  of  power,   by    which    nations    attain    their   grandeur, 
extend  their  empire,  and  maintain  their  sway.     The  probable 
destinies  of  our  country  are  sufficiently  shadowed  forth  even  to 
the  most  sober  and  cautious   minds,  by  the   experience  of  the 
past,  and  the  substantial  indications  of  the  real  present.     For- 
eign as  it  would  be  to  the  demands  of  this  occasion  to  dwell 
upon  that  which,  however  true,  would  only  serve  to  minister 
to  national  pride,  already  perhaps  too  much  inflated,  we  need 
not  shrink  from  uttering  our  proud  conviction  that  a  glorious 
future   lies  before  us  ; — a  future   in  which  all  that  is  pure, 
beneficent,  and  permanent  in  free  institutions,  is  to  earn  its  final 
triumph  against  those  antagonist  influences,  which,  among  all 
nations  and  in  all  times,  have  been  found  to  spring  from  politi- 
cal degeneracy  and   social   profligacy.     We  may  rejoice  with 
honest  pride  in  the  present  brilliant  promise  of  that  momen- 
tous experiment  which,  in. the  course  of  Divine  Providence, 
has  been   committed   to  our  hands,  the    ultimate    success  of 
which  must  gloriously  establish  or  finally  wreck  man's  hopes 
of  a  pure  democracy.     But  when  summoned  to  the  prospect  of 
the  glories  that  await  us  if  we  are  true  to  our  principles,  it  is 
not  unwise  to  estimate   also  the  dangers  that  lie  in  our  path. 
For  it  is  against  these  dangers  that  education  alone,  the  liberal 
and  harmonious  culture  of  the  national  mind,  and  the  national 
heart,  can  erect  a  sufficient  bulwark.     And  by  the  sense  of 
these  dangers,  involved  in  and   springing  from  the  lofty  posi- 
tion and  the  high  civilization  to  which  we  are  advancing,  may 
the  educated  men   of  the  country  draw  incentives    to   well- 
directed  and  unselfish  effort  for  the  common  welfare.     And  if 
as  a   brotherhood  of  scholars,  whom  society  must  summon 
from   these  retreats  of  learning  to  the  busy  stage  of  life,  we 
feel  that  for  us  there  are  interests  worthy  of  constant  and  un- 


dyin  ir   superior  to  the  mere  objects  of  a  grovel- 

j  far  superior  to  the  base  ends  which  the  charla- 

and  the  demagogue  would  substitute,  by  party  ami  per- 

nsideralions,  for  those  results  which  the  enlightened, 

high-minded,  virtuous  citizen  seeks  for  his  country;  a  few 

i  mingled  en<  ■  ment  and  caution,  however  feebly 

iken,  may  not  be  without  their  reward. 


A  brief  enumeration  of  some  of  the  dangers  which  seem  to 
spring  from  the  civilisation  that  surrounds  us,  will  prepare  us 
for  the  consideration  of  the  safeguards  that  may  be  opposed  to 

them. 

'1'hc  first  characteristic  of  our  civilisation  which  arrests  our 
attention,  is   that  universal  spirit  of  activity  which  prevails  in 
all  the  avenues  of  life,  by  which   individuals  and   masses  are 
rushing  onwards   in  pursuit  of  aggrandisement.     The  bold, 
impetuous  spirit  of  progress  rules  the  public  mind,  and  more 
or  less  imparts  its  energy  to  every  citizen.     Every  American 
is  tempted  by  bright  promises  of  the   future,  and  lives,  and 
moves,  and  has  his  being  in  an  atmosphere  of  intense  activity 
and  excitement.     This  animates  the  bold,  the  aspiring,  the  am- 
bitious with  constant  exhilaration.     It  arouses  the  cautious  and 
the   timid,  and,  by  a  ceaseless   impulse,  urges   forward   even 
honest   and    prudent   mediocrity    towards    paths    over    which 
genius  too  often  hurries,  reckless  of  the  cautions  of  a  salutary 
.  and  of  the  wholesome  restraints  of  conscience.     And  the 
leading  effect  of  this  universal  activity,  this  all-pervading,  un- 
resting spirit  of  enterprise,  is  to  increase  the   resources,  and 
multiply  the  instruments,  and  enlarge  the  sphere  of  physical 
enjoyments  :  to  amass  wealth  which  is  to  be  diffused  again  in 
Luxurious  expenditure,  or  at  best  to  be  hoarded  as  the  basis  of 
future  schemes  of  aggrandisement.     And  the  tendency  of  this 
spun  expended  mainly  on  such  objects,  unchecked  by  due 
intellectual  and   moral    restraints,  is  to  beget  that  selfishness 
which   militates   against   all   generous    love  of  country,   and 

•  Sort  for  the  common  welfare.     This  sel- 

fishi  If  into  giant  stature  in  the  breast  of  the 

individual,  to  the  gradual  exclusion  of  a  noble  patriotism  which 

individual   happiness  m :iinl\  as  connected  with  public 


9 

welfare,  has  in  all  ages  been  the  bane  of  republics.  It  pre- 
pares them  for  the  dismembering  axe  of  faction,  the  convul- 
sions of  anarchy,  or  the  iron  sceptre  of  despotism,  which  rules 
by  a  selfishness  which  at  length  crushes  the  fears  and  hopes 
of  a  people  beneath  a  single  foot,  or  concentrates  them  through 

slavish   terror  into  a  single  arm.     It  begets  and  fosters  indi- 
ct o 

vidual,  party  and  sectional  animosities.  The  one  desire  which 
it  inspires  is  to  rise,  to  win,  to  triumph,  by  whatever  means 
and  through  whatever  difficulties.  Society  becomes  like  one 
vast  battle-field,  where  every  man,  like  Harry  of  the  Wynd, 
"fights  for  his  own  hand,  and  disputes  success,  and  strug- 
gles for  happiness  as  for  a  trophy  against  a  host  of  competi- 
tors." In  such  a  state  of  things  there  may  be  all  the  outward 
refinement  which  results  from  the  universal  emulation  to  shine 
by  the  trappings  of  wealth  and  station  ; — and  brilliant  ad- 
vances in  civilization  are  not  only  probable  but  certain. 
"  There  may  be  much  of  the  fair  exterior  of  virtue,  but  the 
danger  is  that  the  spirit  of  selfishness  will  silently  eat  out  the 
very  soul  of  virtue,  and  that  the  lower  passions  and  propensi- 
ties, by  becoming  everywhere  predominant,  shall  gradually 
sap  the  very  foundation  of  the  social  edifice,  and  leave  it  to 
perish  through  its  own  weight  and  rottenness."  I  have  quot- 
ed the  words  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  philanthropist 
of  our  country,*  who  adds — "  Situated  as  the  people  of  this 
country  are,  they  cannot  too  vigilantly  guard  against  the 
approach  of  that  era  of  dark  and  fatal  degeneracy,  when 
according  to  the  ironical  definition  of  Fielding,  patriot  comes 
to  mean  a  candidate  for  place  ;  worth,  power,  rank  and  wealth  ; 
and  wisdom^  the  act  of  getting  all  three."  Of  this  species  of 
civilisation,  a  great  poet  points  out  the  fatal  defects  : — 

" Egyptian  Thebes, 


Tyre,  by  the  margin  of  the  sounding  waves, 

Palmyra,  central  in  the  desert,  fell, 

And  the  arts  died  by  which  they  had  been  raised. 

Call  Archimedes  from  his  buried  tomb 

Upon  the  plain  of  vanished  Syracuse, 

And  feelingly  the  sage  shall  make  report 

How  insecure,  how  baseless  in  itself, 

*  The  Rt.  Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  D.  D. 


10 

the  philosophy  w         •  ray  depen 
Ooi  -     bow  weak 

Those  arts  a  inveotions,  if  unpro] 

II,   v..  :  pensive  irrief, 

svould  admit 
That  not  th 
Tosavethi  from  rank  forgetfiilnei 

This  is  one  ot  the  dangers  springing  from  that  high  form  of 
civilisation  t  i  which  our  country  is  advancing.     But  there  is 
another  and  perhaps  a  more  imminent  one,  resulting  from  t! 
prevalence  of  luxurious  habits  of  life,  weakening-  the  restraints 
of  virtue  and  the  salutary  bonds  of  moderation  and  self-control. 
Where  the  means  of  luxury  are  generally  diffused,  and  the 
active  spirit  of  enterprise  is  ever  on  the  stretch  to  multiply 
them,  the  mere  material  and  sensual  enjoyments  which  wealth 
can  purchase  become  the  objects  of  the  general  strife.     The 
more  they  are  possessed,  the   more  eagerly   are  they  valued 
I  sought.     In  proportion  as  it  is  devoted  to  these  objects, 
ilisation  withdraws  itself  more  and  more  from  the  influence 
»f  morality  and  of  religious  principle,  it  creates  new  idols  with 
.    -increasing  ingenuity  and  skill,  and  throws  around  the 
old  ones  a  warmer  atmosphere  of  attraction,  and  invests  them 
with   more  seducing  charms.      It  thus  generates  that  social 
recklessness  which  in  the  end  will  not  hesitate,  if  uncontrolled 
by  the  r<         at    which  high   and   holy  principle  alone  can 
supply,  to  overthrow,  in  its  mad  desires  for  indulgence,  every 
bulwark  of  public  and  private  virtue  ;  to  reject  all  restraint  of 
temperance  and  modesty  ;  and  to  plunge  headlong  into  crime. 
The  annals  of  the  world  abound  with  proofs  of  the  fact  that 
th,  ite  at    which   the   highest  elevations  of  outward 

.lendor  and  refinement  have  been  attained,  too  often  conceals 
within  its  bosom  destructive  elements,  which  the  accidents  of 
may  combine  fur  speedy  and  disastrous  action.  How 
many  Dal  .  I  irrupt  to  the  core  at  the  period  of  their  highest 
apparent  prosperity,  have  suddenly  fallen  into  the  anarchy  of 
volution,  or  have  been  helplessly  thrown  beneath  the  ty- 
ranny oi  '.  One  by  one,  with  a  deadly  but  silent 
pi  id  corruption  thus  engendered  lias  eradicated 
the  stern  and   noble   virtues   which   give  dignity  and  penna- 


11 

nence  to  States,  and  caused  the  people  to  forget  the  whole- 
some lessons  of  self-restraint,  self-direction  and  self-govern- 
ment, until  the  state  of  highest  prosperity  and  universal  luxu- 
ry has  become  a  condition  of  universal  profligacy,  wherein 
society,  "  like  the  t}rrant  of  antiquity  wearied  with  the  infamy 
of  its  excesses,  has  its  crowns  always  ready,  and  its  trea- 
sures prepared,  for  those  inventors  of  new  joys,"  which 
can  most  effectually  teach  it  to  slumber  on  the  verge  of  the 
ruin  into  which  it  is  about  to  fall.  States  there  have  been, 
whose  overthrow,  by  such  means,  has  been  almost  the  work  of 
a  single  day,  as  rapid  and  resistless  as  that  which  in  one  night 
overturned  the  Assyrian  throne ;  or  whose  ruin,  like  that  of 
imperial  Rome,  has  been  slower  indeed,  but  none  the  less  dis- 
astrous, exhibiting,  as  it  were,  in  lengthened  decline,  the  throes 
of  the  gladiators  of  her  own  amphitheatres,  protracted,  spas- 
modic, terrific, 

" Spent  'midst  rage  and  blood 


In  fiery  ebb  of  nature's  mystic  flood." 

Since  the  birth  of  our  own  republic  what  an  illustration  of 
this  danger  has  been  given  in  the  very  heart  of  Christian  Eu- 
rope, when  a  whole  people  distinguished  by  elegance  and  re- 
finement, by  the  highest  civilisation  which  talent  and  wealth 
can  create,  impelled  by  an  insatiate  thirst  for  pleasure  in  defi- 
ance of  every  principle  which  ennobles  our  nature,  in  contempt 
of  every  tie  which  makes  life  beautiful,  rushed  into  an  insanity 
of  voluptuousness,  which  was  deaf  to  every  warning,  until  the 
earthquake  of  revolution  shook  the  social  fabric  into  ruins,  and 
involved  in  a  common  wreck  not  only  the  prostituted  throne 
and  the  polluted  altar,  but  the  homes  and  the  hearths  of  an 
entire  people. 

But  there  is  another  danger  in  our  path  to  which  I  can  do 
no  more  than  briefly  allude.  In  a  country  where  all  the  ave- 
nues to  wealth,  to  power,  and  reputation  are  open,  the  pres- 
tige of  a  mere  worldly,  vulgar  success,  to  be  gained  at  all  haz- 
ards, too  easily  captivates  and  enthrals.  The  talent  by  which 
this  success  is  won,  is  found  to  be  indispensable  to  the  demands 
of  the  civilisation  from  which  it  seeks  its  rewards.  Hence  the 
predilection  for  mere  talent  which  such  a  state  of  society  fos- 


L2 

♦  ors hence  the  disposition  to  worship  talent, — educated  ta- 
lent tally, — irrespective   of    the    principles   and   moral 
worth  of  the  individual   who  is  found  to  possess  it.     Under 
whatever  forms,  and  in  whatever  departments  it  manifests  its 
power,  ami  wins  its  triumphs,  it  is  found  to  be  so  essential  to 
ty,  so   seductive  in   its   necessities,  that   it  everywhere 
commands  and  rules  ;  in   political,  professional   and   military 
Ijfe — in  literature,  in  science,  and  the  arts,  from  the  precincts 
of  the  capital  to  the  remotest  districts  of  the  republic,  talent  in 
this  age,  ami  especially  in  this  country,  claims  the  earth  as  its 
throne,  and  all   classes  and  estates  bow  down  before  it,  and 
yield  it  their  homage.     Vulgar,  superficial  and  evanescent  as 
may  he  the  success  which  it  wins,  that  success  soon  becomes 
the  standard  by  which  its  power  is  tested,  and  is  regarded  as 
its  only  proper  and  substantial  reward.     It  fixes  the  goal  be- 
yond which  ambition  casts  no  venture  ;  it  sets  the  limits  within 
which  all  effort  learns  to  contract  and  expend  itself  as  if  there 
were  nothing  worthy  of  high  exertion  or  generous  self-devo- 
tion apart   from  the  worldly,  material,  paltry  objects  which  it 
offers.     Hence  comes  the  general  admiration  and  worship  of 
talent  as  the  instrument  of  such   success;  gaining  all  for  its 
purposes  and  subjecting  all  beneath  its  sway.     Hence,  too, 
the   willingness  with   which  society   in   the   blindness  of  its 
adoration  for  talent,  is  fain  to  look  upon  it  as  a  substitute  for 
principle  and  virtue,  to  regard  it  as  supplying  a  sufficient  pal- 
liation for  moral  defects  in  its  gifted  possessors,  and  to  permit 
to  it  every  degree  of  license.     I  do  not  say,  gentlemen,  that 
this  disposition  to  exalt  talent  above  principle  has  as  yet  gain- 
ed BO  visible  an  ascendancy  over  the  public  mind  among  our- 
selves, as   to  assert  its   triumph   over    truth    and  social  and 
political  v;rtue,  in  such  mode  or  degree  as  to  cause  general 
alarm  or  humiliation.     I  know  too   well  how  strong  is  the 
hold  which  the  noble  principles  asserted  and  maintained  by 
th(            rs  "i  this  Republic,  and  by  their  teaching  and  exam- 
ple written  in  bright  and  deep  characters  upon  the  hearts  of 
their  children,  yel  retains  upon   the  mind  of  the  nation.     But 
human   nature    is  the   same  at    all    times,  and    the    evils  which 
threaten  bo<  iety,  from  the  development  of  the  vicious  princi- 
ples which  lurk  at  the  la-art  of  a  material,  sensual  civilisation, 


13 

like  that  to  which  we  are  advancing,  are  the  same  in  all  ages 
of  the  world.  They  will  inevitably  arise  and  acquire  strength 
and  power  where  the  circumstances  which  have  once  been 
found  to  produce  and  foster  them,  concur  to  aid  their  growth, 
or  open  channels  for  their  action.  When  talent  is  blindly 
worshipped,  society  soon  learns  to  view  it  without  reference 
to  the  principles  which  it  refuses  to  recognise  or  openly  dis- 
cards. When  it  disdains  to  excuse  itself  for  its  sins  against 
principle,  or  to  palliate  its  manifest  moral  delinquencies,  the 
charm  of  its  brilliant  achievements  is  too  often  regarded  as 
a  veil  to  conceal  them.  Even  when  it  degrades  itself  to  the 
lowest  purposes,  and  immortalises  impurity  in  the  burning 
strains  of  poetry,  and  invests  corruption  with  a  false  beauty 
and  dangerous  seductive  attractions  in  romance,  how  eagerly 
are  the  intoxicating  draughts  which  it  offers  raised  to  the  lip, 
and  the  poisonous  ingredients  forgotten  in  the  delirious  excite- 
ment produced  by  the  baneful  mixture.  How  often  does 
society,  not  only  tolerate,  but  look  with  a  certain  kind  of 
complacency  and  admiration  upon  that  most  melancholy  spec- 
tacle, a  man  of  genius  who  is  not  a  man  of  character.  How 
many  famous  examples  might  be  cited  from  the  records  of 
other  nations  and  other  times ;  how  many  illustrious  charac- 
ters of  our  day  might  be  named,  in  whom  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  say  whether  their  intellectual  attainment  or  their 
habitual  vices  have  been  most  notorious.  How  often  when 
the  applauses  of  a  whole  people  are  poured  around  their  idol, 
does  the  conscience  of  the  individual  give  the  lie  to  the  un- 
bounded adulation,  and  how  many  consciences  have  perhaps 
been  lulled  to  slumber  by  these  syren  melodies,  eager  to 
present  in  mitigation  of  each  sin  committed,  a  triumph  offered 
up  as  expiation.  Well  has  it  been  said  by  Dr.  Channing 
that,  u  the  exaltation  of  talent  above  virtue  and  religion  is  the 
curse  of  this  age.  Talent  is  worshipped,  but  if  divorced  from 
rectitude,  it  will  prove  more  of  a  demon  than  a  god." 

This  exhibition,  gentlemen,  is  a  very  brief  and  imperfect 
one.  But  I  trust  the  suggestions  I  have  made  are  sufficient 
to  encourage  the  enquiry  to  which  I  would  now  invite  your 
attention.  What  are  the  safeguards  which  may  be  opposed 
f.o  the  dangers  that  environ  us,  safeguards  which  we  as  among 


14 

those  upon  whom,  under  God,  our  country  has  bestowed  the 
of  liberal   education]  may  in  our  sphere,  assist  in 
agthening  and  extendin 

I  need  scarcely  mention,  a  general,  diffusive  education, 
through  whose  beneficent  moral  effect  must  come  the  all- 
encircling,  all-controlling  safeguards  of  whatever  is  valuable 
or  glorious  in  our  institutions;  of  whatever  is  worth  preserv- 
ing or  defending  in  American  civilisation.  The  discussions 
of  the  last  fifty  years,  to  which  so  much  intellectual  power 
and  noble  philanthropic  effort  have  been  devoted  by  the  best 
and  ifted  citizens  of  our  Republic,  sufficiently  attest  the 

universal  conviction  of  its  importance.     And  it  is  cheering  to 
observe  that  the  great  principles  so  long  advocated  and  esta- 
blished here,  are  now  proclaimed  with  one  voice    from  the 
pulpit  and  the  press  of  England.     Before   such   an  audience 
as  is  here  assembled,  and  on   such  an   occasion,  it  is  neither 
necessary  that  I  should  state  those  principles  in   detail,  nor 
urge  their  application.     Our  earnest  convictions  outrun  all 
argument  on  the  question  as  to  how  much  our  country  must 
owe  to  that  generous  and  comprehensive  culture,  which  aims 
at  the  education  of  the  whole  man  ;  that  culture  which,  while 
it  rears  him  as  an  individual  to  high  intellectual   and   moral 
stature,  and  inspires  him  with  an  ambition  of  living  for  truth, 
for  virtue,  and  for  heaven,  teaches  him,  as  a  citizen  to  per. 
form  every  duty  which  his  country  demands  at  his  hands, 
with  wisdom,  fortitude  and  fidelity.     For  such  culture  is  the 
most    glorious  characteristic,  the  noblest  and  most  enviable 
possession  of  any  people  ;  and  to  a  people  with  democratic  in- 
stitutions, indispensable.      Nothing  else  can  confer  that  force 
oi  character,  that  strength  of  principle,  which  will  enable  men 
' and  firm  against  the  suggestions  of  that  selfishness  which 
would  sacrifice  our  country's  sacred  interests  for  those  of  per- 
parties;  against  the  seductions  of  a  luxurious  civi- 
lisation to  cany  us  blindly  beyond  the  bounds  of  moderation 
and   self-control  ;    against  the   inlluence   of  gifted  profligacy, 
which  flatters  while  il  misleads  the  people,  and  uses  against 
public  welfare  and  rirtue  tin1  power  which  a  dazzled,  mis- 
guided populace  confers  upon  it.     This  will   enable  men  to 
ight  the  cant  of  demagogues,  who  would  lull   them 


15 

to  sleep  by  the  syren  song  of  popular  infallibility,  asserting-  on 
all  occasions,  "  Vox  populi  est  vox  Dei."  This  will  give 
them  heart  and  energy  to  resist  the  tyranny  of  an  unhallowed 
public  opinion,  and  to  uphold  in  the  midst  of  clamor  and 
abuse  the  sacred  interests  of  truth.  It  will  keep  before  them 
the  vast  responsibilities  with  which  they  arc  charged;  warn 
them  against  the  blind  impulses  of  faction,  and  at  all  times 
and  in  all  circumstances,  urge  upon  them  the  necessity  of 
vigilance,  lest  they  should  be  found  to  contribute,  each  in  his 
sphere,  towards  repeating  again  before  the  world,  the  awful 
lesson  of  the  folly  and  peril  of  republican  institutions,  when 
not  based  on  intelligence  and  virtue. 

From  this  source  we  have  the  safe-guard  of  moral 
motives  and  restraints,  flowing  from  the  sense  of  relio-i- 
ous  obligation  as  the  basis  of  them  all.  "  Whatever,"  says 
Washington,  "  may  be  conceded  "to  a  refined  education,  rea- 
son and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national 
morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principle." 
Speaking  of  the  essence  of  Freedom,  Mr.  Burke  said — "  He 
that  fears  God  fears  nothing  else."  It  is  not  the  assertion  of 
parties  or  of  sects,  but  of  that  venerable,  catholic  wisdom 
which  is  above  them  all,  that  religion  is  essential  to  national 
greatness.  It  alone  truly  exalts  the  hearts  of  men  and  of  na- 
tions out  of  selfishness  into  true  disinterestedness,  prompting 
the  noble  deeds  which  spring  from  noble  hearts,  and  consecrat- 
ing alike  every  act  of  private  virtue  and  public  beneficence. 

And  with  it  we  have  the  safeguard  of  that  generous  intel- 
lectual training,  which  not  only  imparts  knowledge,  but  con- 
fers the  wisdom  to  use  it  to  noblest  ends,  giving  habits  of  pa- 
tient thought,  and  calm,  caieful  enquiry,  by  which,  as  by  the 
touch  of  Ithuriel's  spear,  the  glittering  disguise  is  stript  off  from 
false  and  ruinous  projects,  and  difficulties  in  the  way  of  honor- 
able enterprise  revealed;  which  teaches  all  that  is  essential 
for  success  and  dignity  to  the  man,  and  arms  the  citizen  with 
those  truths  which  guided  our  fathers  through  times  of  trial, 
and  which  alone  can  give  strength  and  enduring  glory  to  our 
institutions  and  our  freedom.  And  with  it  comes  also  the  safe- 
guard of  "  elegant  humanising  culture,"  which  gives  pure  and 
salutary  employment  to  leisure,  throws  a  softening  influence 


L6 

ii.l  makes  letters  and  music,  and  sculpture  and 
Qting,  the  beautiful  sisterhood  of  the  creative  intellect  com- 
bine to  relieve  the  toils  of  life,  to  soothe  its  cares,  and  dignify 
i  its  seasons  of  recreation. 

I  cannot  in  better  language  sum  up,  in  one  view,  what  such 
culture  must  do  for  a  people,  mid  the  consequent  responsibili- 
ty which  rests  upon  all  classes  of  citizens,  and  especially  upon 
the  liberally  educated,  than  in  the  words  of  an  English 
scholar,  showing  the  tendency  of  all  knowledge  to  form  the 
heart  of  a  nation  : 

"  We  will  venture  to  say,  how  in  the  mercy  of  God  to  man 
this  heart  comes  to  a  nation,  and  how  its  exercise  or  affection 
appears.  It  comes  by  priests,  by  lawyers,  by  philosophers, 
schools,  by  education,  by  the  nurse's  care,  the  mother's 
anxiety,  the  father's  severe  brow.  It  comes  by  letters,  by 
science,  by  every  art,  by  sculpture,  by  painting,  by  poetry, 
by  the  song  on  war,  on  peace,  on  domestic  virtue,  on  a  be- 
loved  and  magnanimous  ruler,  by  the  Iliad,  by  the  Odyssey, 
l>\  tragedy,  by  comedy.  It  comes  by  sympathy,  by  love,  by 
the  marriage  union,  by  friendship,  generosity,  meekness,  tem- 
perance,  by  virtue  and  example  of  virtue.  It  comes  by  senti- 
ments of  chivalry,  by  romance,  by  music,  by  decorations  and 
magnificence  of  buildings,  by  the  culture  of  the  body,  by  com- 
fortable clothing,  by  fashions  in  dress,  by  luxury  and  com- 
merce. It  comes  by  the  severity,  the  melancholy,  the  be- 
nignity of  countenance,  by  rules  of  politeness,  ceremonies, 
formalities,  solemnities.  It  comes  by  rights  attendant  on  law, 
by  religion,  by  the  oath  of  office,  by  the  venerable  assembly, 
by  the  disgrace  and  punishment  of  crimes,  by  public  fastsj 
public  prayer,  by  meditation,  by  the  bible,  by  the  consecra- 
tion of  churches,  by  the  sacred  festival,  by  the  cathedral's 
gloom  and  choir.  Whence  the  heart  of  a  nation  com.-,  we 
have  perhaps  sufficiently  explained.  And  it  must  appear-to 
what  most  awful  obligation  and  duty  we  hold  all  those  from 
whom  this  heart  takes  its  nature  and  shape,  our  rulers,  and 
all  who  bear  the  badges  of  office  or  honor,  all  priests,  judges, 
senators,  pleaders,  interpreters  of  law,  all  instructors  of  youth, 
all  seminaries  of  education,  all  parents,  all  learned   men,  all 


17 

professors  of  science  and  art,  all  teachers  of  manners.  Upon 
them  depends  the  fashion  of  the  nation's  heart.  By  them  it 
is  to  be  chastised,  refined,  and  purified.  By  them  is  the  State 
to  lose  the  character  and  the  title  of  the  beasts  of  prey.  By 
them  are  the  iron  scales  to  fall,  and  a  skin  of  youth,  beauty, 
freshness,  and  polish,  to  come  upon  it.  By  them  it  is  to  be 
made  so  tame  and  gentle  as  that  a  child  may  lead  it.5 


5J# 


To  the  first  danger  then  to  which  our  attention  has  been 
directed,  what  safeguard  may  be  opposed  with  better  hope, 
than  the  noble,  unselfish  disposition   which  by  such  culture 
as  we  have  spoken  of  comes  to  the  heart  of  a  people,  the  dis- 
position to  allow  our  neighbor  as  fair  a  field  as  we  claim  for 
ourselves ;  the  spirit  which  disdains  all  jealous  rivalry,  and 
rejoices  in  all  success  worthily  obtained  for  the  sake  of  the 
common   welfare  to   which  it  contributes.     We,  gentlemen, 
can  carry  this  spirit  with  us.     We  may  bring  into  the  walks 
of  enterprise,  and  the  paths  in  which  honorable  distinction  is 
won,  something  of  that  magnanimity  before  which  the  petty 
combats  of  selfishness  and  faction  shall  shrink  rebuked,  and  of 
that  charity  which  only  will   temper  the  fierce  contentions  of 
society.     And  by  the  influence  which  the  humblest  among  us 
may  exert  in  his  sphere,  we  can  aid  in  opposing  the  safeguards 
of  temperance,  modesty  and  integrity,  against  the  irruption  of 
worldly  passions,  the  ebb  and  flow  of  those  vices  which  civili- 
sation, unchecked  by  knowledge,  morality  and  piety,  always 
threatens  to  let  loose  upon  society.     And  when  the  voice  of 
popular  opinion,  blinded  by  the  splendor  of  prostituted  talent, 
demands  the  sacrifice  of  principle  at  its  shrine,  can  we  do  a 
nobler  thing  than  to  raise  against  such  an  unholy  worship,  the 
majestic  voice  which  proclaims  with  the  authority  of  heaven, 
that  talent  and  genius  are  sacred  gifts  which  men  are  bound  to 
use  for  the  good  of  their  brother  men,  and  the  honor  of  their 
Creator  :  the  abuse  of  which  deserves  contempt  and  shame  in 
this  world,  as  it  will  inevitably  draw  down  a  deeper  condem- 
nation at  the  bar  of  Divine  justice. 

And  as  literary  men — as  a  brotherhood  to  whom  the  pur- 
suits'of  literature  must  be  the  solace  and  recreation,  if  not  the 

*  Dr.  Ramsden's  Sermons,  Cambridge,  England. 


L8 

tion  of  life — who  are  likely,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  ex- 
.tii  influence  in  giving  tone  to  that  literature  which  tells 
■  immediately  and  powerfullj  upon  the  public  mind;  Let 
me  suggest  as  another  safeguard  against  the  dangers  and 
corrupting  influences  resulting  from  the  civilisation  of  our  day 
and  country,  the  influence  of  a  pure,  high-toned  American 
literature.  The  press  is  the  great  instructor  of  this  age  and 
this  land  ;  the  literature  which  emanates  from  it  to  a  nation 
of  readers,  is  the  most  powerful  and  constant  stimulus  to  action. 
And  what  is  the  literature  we  demand,  which  all  our  educated 
men  should  aim  at  creating  or  encouraging? 

What  Bhould  be  recognised  as  its  genuine  spirit?  Its  im- 
pul-r-  -hall  ever  he  in  sympathy  with  the  destinies,  the  wants, 
and  the  hopes  of  man  as  man.  We  have  cut  ourselves  loose 
from  the  old  regime.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  those  trap- 
pings and  formulas  of  state,  those  modes  ©f  life,  those  habits 
of  thought  and  currents  of  feeling,  which  refuse  to  deal  with 
man  as  free  and  as  noble  as  God  made  him. 

Our  empire  is  founded  upon  the  rights  and  duties,  and 
wants  of  the  people,  that  sovereign  whose  sceptre  is  the  con- 
stitution, whose  throne  is  the  forum,  whose  every  fireside  of 
domestic  dignity,  virtue  and  peace,  is  brighter  than  kingly 
halls  ar  aristocratic  saloons. 

The  literature  that  owes  its  birth  to  a  democratic  people 
worthy  of  the  name,  must  be  such  as  men  everywhere  will  re- 
joice to  hail.  Its  mission  will  be  with  the  common  heart  of 
humanity,  with  its  earnest  aspirations,  its  never-satisfied  long- 
ings after  the  good,  the  true,  and  the  perfect,  its  anxious  ques- 
tionings into  the  mystery  of  its  own  nature  and  destiny. 

It  will  cease  to  dwell  upon  the  outw7ard  and  the  conven- 
tional, and  direct  itself  to  that  which  is  inward,  spiritual,  un- 
changingly desirable.  It  will  explore  those  depths  in  the 
immaterial  nature  of  man,  where  lies  the  springs  of  his  noblest 
capabilities.  It  will  seek  to  evolve  from  this  "  wondrous  ob- 
i.  woven  of  contrasts,  of  greatness  and  littleness  infinite, 
of  in'  loom,  and  of  amazing  brightness" — a  being  capa- 

ble of  self-help  and  self-control,  a  worth}-  denizen  of  time,  a 
'hless  heir  of  heaven.     Thus  it  will  unite  in  favor  of  our 
institutions,  the  best  aspirations  and  noblest  sympathies.     It 


19 

will  link  us  for  ever  to  the  great  ;md  holy  cause  of  political, 
intellectual  and  religious  freedom.  Grasping  the  destinies  of 
man  as  its  theme,  and  ever  aiming  to  develope  his  essential 
nohleness  and  his  true  moral  strength,  it  will  inspire  a  gen- 
erous enthusiasm  in  the  attainment  of  the  highest  moral  good. 
Into  the  practical  engagements  and  never-ceasing  toil, 
whose  tendency  is  to  bind  the  soul  exclusively  to  earthly  and 
sensual  objects,  it  will  infuse  that  free  and  generous  spirit  of 
hope  and  patient  trust,  which  is  as  the  hidden  nerve  which 
gives  vigor  to  the  frame.  It  will  send  into  the  common  heart 
the  will  to  do  all,  and  to  suffer  all,  for  principle,  for  freedom, 
and  the  rights  of  man.  It  will  inspire  the  ardor  of  living 
nobly,  and  acting  nobly  for  our  country,  for  the  world,  for 
God.  As  one  of  our  own  poets  has  sung,  it  will  ^incite  each 
to  be — 

"  In  our  country's  field  of  battle, 

In  the  bivouac  of  life, 
Not  like  dumb  and  driven  cattle, 

But  a  hero  in  the  strife." 

The  most  encouraging  feature  in  the  present  aspect  of  our 
literature,  including  under  the  term  only  those  results  of  men- 
tal effort  which  exhibit  their  claims  to  a  national  designation, 
by  their  sympathy  with  our  social  and  political  developments 
and  condition,  is  the  animating  and  hopeful  spirit  which  it 
breathes  in  regard  to  the  great  future  which  lies  before  us. 

While  it  enters  warmly  into  the  toils  and  struggles  of  the 
present,  it  looks  beyond  to  the  infinitely  wider  and  stronger 
action  of  our  prospective  condition,  and  it  dwells  with  eagle 
vision  upon  the  brilliant  destiny  which  that  action  is  to  accom- 
plish. It  aims  to  nerve  the  heart  amidst  the  stern  battlings 
and  thick-coming  discouragements  which  yet  environ  and 
occupy  us,  by  presenting  the  magnificent  image  of  a  time 
when  all  disturbing  powers  shall  be  vanquished,  and  our 
prosperity  shall  be  commensurate  with  the  freedom  of  our  in- 
stitutions, and  the  extent  of  our  territory.  Its  aim  has  been  to 
inspire  a  generous,  self-sacrificing  patriotism. 

It  has  breathed  the  Spartan's  love  of  country  with  more 
than  the  Spartan's  solicitude  for  the  purity  of  that  country's 


20 

honor.  It  has  Bought  to  instil  by  motives,  which  are  in  them- 
selves rewards,  enerous  contempt,  of  everything  selfish, 
tional  ami  expedient,  and  a  deep  love  of  all  that  is  glori- 
ous in  public  spirit,  of  all  that  is  pure  in  the  advancement  of 
the  genera]  good,  of  all  that  is  lovely  in  moral  worth,  of  all 
that  is  holy  and  venerable  in  principle. 

And  it  there  is  one  thing  of  which  we  may  he  justly  proud, 
it  is  the  1 1 i u: 1 1  moral  tone  and  tmcontaminated  patriotic  spirit 
of  onr  poetry.  We  may  open  its  volumes  almost  at  random, 
and  we  shall  be  enabled  to  trace  on  their  pages,  evidence  of 
the  hiirh-souled  integrity  which  animated  the  founders  of  this 
Republic,  and  nerved  the  hearts  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution. 
This  harp  of  the  West  strung  by  "  the  pure  in  heart,  and 
great  in  soul,"  yet  thrills  to  kindred  hands  with  those  that 
swept  it  in  the  "  old  stormy  times  ;"  and  on  many  a  glorious 
battle-field,  and  in  many  a  memorable  council-hall,  awoke 
strains  which  caused  the  ears  of  men  to  tingle.  What  heart 
has  not  thrilled  to  the  "  song  of  Marion's  men,"  and  beat 
responsive  to  the  inspired  strains  of  Halleck ;  strains  which, 
whether  they  breathe  of  our  own  triumphs,  or  the  struggles  of 
other  lands,  breathe  still  the  soul  of  "  our  own  green  land 
forever?"  Who  has  not  caught  some  animating  glimpse  of 
the  grand  and  solemn  destiny  before  us,  from  the  already 
classic  strains  of  Bryant,  Percival,  and  Longfellow?  Who 
lias  not  lingered  wTith  Sprague,  Dana,  Whit  tier  and  Henry 
Ware,  over  the  vast  and  awful  promise  which  broods  as  a  glory 
over  the  ark  of  our  freedom  ? 

Nor  are  these  cheering  tokens  confined  to  our  poetry  alone. 
Whose  patriotism  has  not  been  aroused  and  deepened  by  the 
essays  of  our  earlier  statesmen,  by  the  truly  great  productions 
of  later  years,  by  the  political  discourses  of  Channing  and 
Everett— by  the  classic  histories  of  Prescott — by  the  pure 
ethics  and  sound  political  philosophy  of  Wayland,  and  Potter, 
by  the  magnificent  oratory  of  Webster.  These  are  the  true 
exponents  of  our  infant  literature,  and  to  these  we  point  with 
pride  and  hope  ;is  prophetic  of  much. 

Let  us  have  a  literature  like  this,  and  the  influences  it  will 
beget,  and  the  pure,  ennobling  motives  it  will  inspire,  will 
bind  us  for  ever  in  mind   and  heart  to  the  country  and  the 


21 

home,  of  whose  principles,  aspirations  and  destinies,  there  are 
at  once  the  present  manifestation,  and  the  prophetic  utterance. 
The   purity  and  grandeur  of  motive,  based  upon,  and  en- 
kindled by  the  essential  nobleness  of  the  work  in  which  we 
are  engaged,  and  of  which  not  our  writers  only,  but  our  whole 
people  shall  feel  themselves  to  be  partakers,  will  keep  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  life  of  the  Republic  true  to  its  first  pulsa- 
tions.    And  hence  will  come  under  God's  blessing,  that  spirit 
of  humane  and  generous  enterprise,  that  simple,  unaffected 
integrity,  and  above  all,  those  feelings  of  profound   devotion 
to  the  best  interests  of  man,  of  our  land,  and  of  our  race, 
which  ought  to  combine  in  harmony  in  the  national  character. 
Gentlemen, — If  these  hints,  crude  as  they  are  in  conception, 
and  imperfectly  expressed,  should  seem  to  you  to  imply  too 
strong  coloring  on  the  dark  side  of  the  subject  I  have  brought 
before  you,  or  a  glow  of  hope  too  sanguine  on  the  other  ;  either 
magnifying  the  dangers,  or  over-estimating  the  strength  of  the 
safeguards  to  be  erected   against  them,  the  error  is  one  which 
experience  will  teach  us  all,  soon  enough,  to  correct.     In  the 
field  which  lies  before  us,  it  is  safer  to  exaggerate  than   to 
undervalue  the  power  of  the  foe,  and  a  spirit  hopeful  of  suc- 
cess, will  win  the  victory  by  honorable  battle,  where  craven 
fear  would  perish  amidst  the  apparatus  of  a  less  glorious  war- 
fare.    I  utter  no  vain  boast,  but  a  cherished  and   proud  con- 
viction to  which  I  am  sure  every  heart  before  me  responds, 
when  I  say,  that  the  spirit  of  our  fraternity  is  such  as  to  ani- 
imate  its  members  to  noble  effort,  by  setting  before  them  lofti- 
est objects,  the  attainment  of  which  is  worthily  achieved  only 
when  achieved   through  unselfish   struggle  for  truth  and  for 
right,  with  a  single  eye  to  duty,  "  pro  Deo,  pro  patria,  pro 
hominum  salute."     Not  as  an  effete  maxim  of  the  schools  to 
be  forgotten  amidst  the  severe  toils  and  stirring  contests  of  life, 
but  as  the  living  utterance  of  a  living,  abiding,  actuating  prin- 
ciple it  speaks  to  us  ;  macte  virtute.     That  lesson  was  writ- 
ten upon  our  hearts  in  hours  when  the  kindling  aspirations, 
and   the    warm  friendships  of  early    youth,   gave    it   power 
to  thrill  every  nerve  with  the  enthusiasm  of  living  nobly.     It 
sprang  from  the  soul,  and  burned  upon  the  lip,  and  ran  like 
the  electric  current,  from  spirit  to  spirit,  as  we  encircled  our 


22 

altar  of  brotherhood,  till  one  glorious  impulse  animated  us  all. 
That  impulse,  gentlemen-,  is  here  revived  to-day.  It  brings 
bark  again  in  all  it-;  majesty  and  beauty  that  noble  lesson.  I 
I  that  lesson  in  the  open  brews,  in  the  kindling  eyes 
around  me.  We  have  not  forgotten  it,  we  will  not  forget  it. 
\\  i  will  make  its  enunciation  our  watchword  in  every  strug- 
gle, we  will  cling  to  it  as  our  guiding  principle,  ever  present, 
ever  helpful  through  the  power  which  God  gives  to  every 
law  of  virtuous  action,  when  sincerely  obeyed  ; — ever  present, 
ever  helpful,  and  bringing  ever  its  own  exceeding  great  re- 
ward. 

Indulge  me,  brothers,  a  moment  longer.     To  these  hours 
of  pure  and  sweet  communion,  I  am  sure  memory  will  again 
and  again   recur  as  a  season   precious  to  the  heart.     To  him 
who  addresses  you  amidst  the  grateful  feelings  which  it  awa- 
kens, sorrowful  reminiscences  come   unbidden,  and  the  strain 
of  joyous  gratulation  has  its  own  mournful  undertone  of  sad- 
ness.    He  remembers  two  of  our  fraternity  who  then  stood 
side  by  side,  in  the   vigor  of  manhood,  two  its  oldest,  most 
honored,  best  beloved  members,  under  whose  auspices  it  was 
his  privilege  to  enter  the  society.*     One  of  these,  a  noble  and 
gifted   brother,  whose  commanding   intellect  was  to  us  as  a 
tower  of  strength,  arrested  him  on  the  threshold  of  his  aca- 
demic  life,  and  amidst  the  dreams  of  boyish  frivolity,  spake 
words  which  were  as  a  charm  to  his   spirit,  in   many  an  hour 
of  temptation,  in  many  an  hour  of  lonely  study,  silencing  the 
voice  of  seducing  pleasures,  summoning  him  to  useful  toils, 
and  nerving  him  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  which  beset 
the  path  of  the  student.     That  brother  sleeps  in  his  honored 
grave.     The  other  who  was  also  to  him  that  speaks   to  you, 
as  a  counsellor  and  friend,  is  here.     The  memorv  of  Averill 
will  be  for  ever  fragrant   in  our  hearts,  and   his  eulogy  has 
n  fitly  spoken   by  that  bosom-friend  who  is  with  us  here, 
and  whom  we  all  regard  with  love   and  pride  as  one  who  can 
best  supph  to  us,  bis  younger  brethren,  that  which,  in  Ave. 
rill  we  have  lost.     Let  then  the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  the 

*  The  allusion  is  to  the  late  Professor  Averill,  of  Union   College,  and  to 
Professor  Eaton,  of  Madison  University,  who  was  present. 


23 

example  of  the  living,  unite  to  cheer  us  onward,  to  attest  as 
they  have  attested,  the  principles  we  avow,  by  living  as  they 
have  lived,  nobly  and  usefully,  by  dying,  as  died  the  gifted 
and  pure-minded  Averill,  as  only  a  noble  Christian  man  can 
die,  when  his  work  on  earth  is  done. 

We  complete  to  day  another  lustrum  in  the  existence  of 
our  fraternity.  Hitherto  each  one,  as  it  has  rolled  over  us, 
has  been  brighter  and  more  auspicious  than  that  which  pre- 
ceded it.  May  it  ever  be  thus  !  May  our  noble  institution 
ever  be  what  its  founders  intended  it  to  be,  a  nursery  of  high- 
minded  patriotic,  Christian  men  :  an  institution  which  our 
country  in  her  trial-day,  need  not  be  ashamed  nor  afraid  to 
own.  And  when  called  upon  to  exhibit  to  the  world  the 
fruits  of  her  civilisation,  the  treasures  of  her  culture,  may  "she 
be  enabled,  like  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  to  point  to  its 
members  as  among  her  true  children,  with  the  proud  reply, 
"these  are  my  jewels." 


- 


I  \:\  I  KM  1  t  i  •!  (   ILIFORNIA    LOS   LNGELES 
1  ill    I    \1\  !  KM  n    1  TBR  \R\ 

ook  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


KORKU 
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*m  anueles 

LIBRARY 


LB41 

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LB41 
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